Book of the Week – Leaves in the Wind by Foster Jewell
From Foster Jewell’s A Brief Note: “The chosen pieces, apart from award winners, show a fairly consistent adherence to an early trail — a path which seems to allow a little more lingering over the moment. Rather than a lightning flash which may suggest a something there, there have been chosen those on which a beam has appeared to briefly rest … Now, if only this judgment can be confirmed by some slight majority of yeas, my day will surely be made!”
Leaves in the Wind was published by Sangre de Cristo Press in 1976.
Here are a few selected poems from the book:
On the evening sky
the smudge of the last buzzard
sliding into night.—
From this waterfall
another river rises,
weaving off in mist.—
Over the skyline
and off into the fleecy clouds –
the vanishing sheep.—
The canyon yawns –
and all through siesta hour
not a stone stirs.—
River so dark,
only this over-folding
of tumbling stars.
You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.
Do you have a full or chapbook length book published in 2018 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by the THF Digital Librarian Kenneth Pearson and are used with permission.
Comments (1)
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It’s interesting to see many a theme and phrase that has since become well-worn, expressed in the early fashions of English Language haiku. “The horned toad and I…” (three years before MM’s celebrated “pig and I”).
I liked the fellow-feeling in these two which are less poetically-contrived, more natural than some of the others, and still seem fresh:
Under stress
the stink bug stands on his head.
Wishing him well.
Resting.
The buzzards come
to see how I do
Thank you, Kenneth, for continuing to serve up a variety of dishes.